Somewhere along the way, we got the idea that we are supposed to think in perfectly neat single-file lines. We don't. We think in millions of idea bubbles. Sometimes, all those thought bubbles overwhelm us and we just have to let them pop. Don't hold it in. Speak. Be heard. You have a voice, too.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

It Just Isn't That Difficult

“You cannot shake hands with a clenched
fist.” – Indira Gandhi

There is a
great cliché that says “Love is a verb”. In other words, love shouldn’t be
viewed as the noun it technically is; it should be seen as a verb, something we
actively “do” on a daily basis as a way of reinvesting in our relationships,
our marriage, our nation, and our communities. Loving relationships – of all
kinds – do not just happen. We have to work at loving each other on a daily –
sometimes even hourly – basis.

Why do we so
often overlook the idea that peace is also something that we have to “do”?
Something we have to work to achieve and maintain every day? Peace does not
happen through inaction. Peace does not happen through conflict, as so many
advocates of war have us believe. Peace happens through conscious action and
understanding. There is a difference between understanding alternate ideologies
and required consensual ideologies. All we must do is agree to allow one
another to live and believe how we each live and believe. All we must do is
accept differences. It really is that simple.

We have
xenophobes demanding that people be expelled from the country, that those who
practice a certain religion should not be allowed “in”. Of course they should.
America is not a clique. This is not Mean
Girls. Everyone is welcome at the table.

Peace is not
the opposite of war, though, because like war, it takes so much work. And this,
I think, is what people overlook. Peace does not just happen by laying down
arms. It is a conscious effort, an active pursuit every day.

Peace is
deliberate.

It will not
happen by accident. And it will not happen by spewing hate or divisive
rhetoric. We don’t fall into a time of peace as we fall into a lull in
conversation. We must make it our purpose.

Peace is
inclusive.

When we
actively work to include everyone in society – yes, everyone – peace becomes
attainable. When it is no longer about pushing the ideals of the dominant party
in power onto the masses but about working to include the voices of each group,
we will know we have found the correct road.

Peace is
active.

We cannot
wish it into existence. We can pray for it. We can desire it. We can yearn for
it. But even then we still must do the work, the hard boots-on-the-ground work
to make it happen. We mustn’t brush it to the side and say, “someone should
really do something about that. Maybe if someone had done something, that
[insert bad event here] wouldn’t have happened.” Ultimately we are all someone
else and it is a responsibility that belongs to us all.

Peace is the
bigger picture…

…but it is
also the smaller one. It takes time, but remember, time will pass anyway. Put
that time to positive use. And it takes effort. But in one of the greatest
rewards possible, peace allows us the enormous satisfaction of instant
gratification. We can see differences and tiny results the moment we begin
working for it. Certainly we cannot expect results on a global scale
immediately, but if we look for the small changes, we can see that we are, in
fact, making a difference. One change can lead into the ripple of another. You
may not get to see how far each of your ripples fully reaches, but keep making
them. Keep working.

Can you
stick to it? Can you commit? Can you be the only one smiling when all those
around you give you no reason to? If you can, then one day, when you have no
smile to give, they will be there with one of their own to give to you.

Peace is an
active concept. It cannot happen through rejection. When we make an effort to
move slightly beyond where we are comfortable, when we choose understanding
over condemnation, when we take the hand of someone in need rather than
pointing a finger to shame him, we work to make peace happen. We work to repair
what is broken.